


New Beginnings

by Writing_Free



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 11:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14163429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Free/pseuds/Writing_Free
Summary: Makoto never thought that in just one summer, his life would change for the better.A whole summer to do what he wants before going off to University. But before that came a encounter with the man he had been dreaming about and crushing on for months. Sousuke Yamazaki.An entire summer to know each other and maybe even fall in love.





	New Beginnings

It started at a party. It's hard to say what I was feeling that day, energetic, disappointed that we didn't make it past the swimming competition. But ether way, we were all in high spirits and we were all having a good time.

I was leaning against the wall, my arms crossed against my chest, my best friend Haru, with the same face that he always makes but a new goal in mind... making it to the Olympics. 

Music's blaring and it's 3 in the morning. It feels like it could go all night and maybe it will.

I glance off to the side and I see Sousuke. He looks like he's doing okay but at the same time hes still struggling. He hurt his shoulder pretty bad while swimming but he was pushing through it. He wanted to swim with Rin again, that was his goal, even if it meant risking his chances of swimming again. 

When I start thinking about him, I start thinking about all the sleepless nights I had where my dreams were about him and all the glances that we had with each other like this one. His eyes look as blue as the ocean, if we were having a staring contest he clearly won at this point, he made me look away from him as i stood up straight and I made my way to the door.

I didn't have to look back at him, I could already feel him smirking as I closed the door behind me. 

I had no intension of leaving the party. I just needed some fresh air. With everyone dancing and all the people, it makes everything a little hot inside.  
Thats the excuse i give myself so that I won't admit to myself that the reason I couldn't stand there anymore was because the topic of all my thoughts was standing only on the other side of that room. 

I take a deep breath and a second later I hear the door opening and closing behind me. When i turn around to see who it was. I'm surprised to see that it's Sousuke.

“Party too much fun for you?” is the first thing he asks me before he has even stood beside me. I couldn't help but smile. “your one to talk. You left too.” He looks down for a second and I see a fraction of a smile before he turns to face me again. “True. But the company out here is much more tolerable”

i feel the wind blowing my hair while our eyes connect for a few seconds. “Do you maybe wanna go for a walk?” My eyes go wide for a second, startled by the question. Startled by the fact that Sousuke wanted to go for a walk. But he finishes his thought when I didn't answer right away. “or maybe another time. It is late.” I didn't let him finish. I answered before he could say anything more. “no. I mean, I would like that." I feel my cheeks go red.  
Sousuke starts walking ahead first before I jog over to catch up to him. 

Sousuke and I walk around for a little bit until we decide to stop at a playground and we sit down on the swings. We talk about life after high school mostly. I admitted to him that im going to Tokyo so that i can be a swim couch for the younger kids. I volunteered for a while through the year and i realized that it's something that I'm really passionate about.  
We spoke about Sousuke's injury. Hes upset and disappointed that he won't be able to swim anymore. There was a point where swimming was his life too and I could see the sadness in his blue eyes. 

I don't know if it was the time of night or if I finally stopped becoming nervous by the next time i looked in his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder. “I would have done the same thing. I keep swimming because it is my home. Being with all my friends. And it hurts when we're all going in different directions and doing different things.” I was speaking in general but at that moment. It brought back the fight me and Haru had when i told him that i was going to Tokyo. 

“I wanted to go to the Olympics.” he tells me. “I wanted to swim with Rin again. Yes. But I also wanted to make it big. I knew it wasn't going to happen so I made it count and I swam and it was the most memorable time I could think of though it did hurt like hell.” he tries to cover up the pain with a slight laugh. I didn't realize that I still had my hand on his shoulder until I slowly retrieved it halfway through. Slowly trailing it down his arm until I grabbed the chain of the swing I was sitting on. I give him a small smile in return. I felt his pain, when the only thing you ever wanted to do was taken away from you, you at least wanted to end it with a bang and thats exactly what he did. 

There was a moment when I wasn't paying attention and that was the moment where it all changed. All my feelings went into overdrive. The moment where Sousuke leaned over and connected his lips with my own. It went by so fast but at that moment, I didn't want it to end. I felt his lips parting with my own and I moved my hand until it was wrapped in his hair. 

As soon as it started. Thats when it ended.  
I could tell that it wasn't planned by the look on his face after our faces parted.  
He took that as a cue to take his leave. After a quick goodbye, i watched him as he walked away until i could no longer see him. 

I bring my finger tips to my lips.  
It was still warm, I could still feel his lips on mine even after it had ended. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up the next morning on the floor of Haru's room.  
He had asked me to spend the night instead of going back home and possibly waking someone up if I wasn't quiet enough. My parents knew I had a party so they would only assume that I spent the night. 

I sit up right, looking to my right and seeing Haru still asleep. Well it was a long night. I hadn't seen what he was up too but seeing everything before I left. I could only guess he was mostly with Rin. 

I stand up slowly and tip toe out of the room, hoping not to wake him up and I make my way to the bathroom, fix my clothes that I slept in last night and splash cold water on my face. 

The first thing I do is look at the time once I get downstairs. Realizing that it's only 9 in the morning, for someone that stayed up past 4 in the morning is surprising to me. 

I sit down on the floor, leaning against the wall and I take out my phone. My eyes widen in shock when I see that I got a text throughout the night at a point where i was already sleeping. 

“Sousuke” I whisper to myself. 

The first question that was rising in my head before I even went to my messages was why he was even awake at 5:30 in the morning when it was not long before that where him and I were at the swing sets. I get a deep blush when i remember the kiss.

I open the message:

I don't regret kissing you tonight.  
In fact I wanna do it again. 

That was all he wrote. Short and simple. Enough to make my heart pound like crazy.  
I put my phone away in my pocket without replying to it just in time for Haru to come walking downstairs. 

I help Haru make breakfast in silence. And it's still silent when we sit down to eat. I don't know if he's just tired or if he just really has nothing to say. I try and break the silence

“Did you have fun last night?” The only question I could think of but it's better than saying that I kissed Sousuke last night and loved every second of it. He looks up at me. “Yea” he replied. It was silent before he spoke again. “You were gone when I looked back for you.” Thats when I realized that I never really told him where I went. We were pretty tired when we got back. Haru had called me a while after I had left asking where I was. All I had really told him was that I went for a walk so we met each other back at his place. I didn't tell him any more than that before we both fell asleep. Exhausted. 

“Yea. It was getting pretty crowded in there so late at night.” I told him, a lie I could think of right on the spot. All he did was nod before going back to his food. 

After breakfast me and Haru hung out for a little bit. Haru said he was going to meet up with Rin and I went back home. My brother and sister probably wanted to know where I was plus I needed to change into other clothes. While I was at it, maybe take a shower too. 

As soon as I walk through the door, I hear little footsteps growing louder and louder the closer they get to me. I didn't even have time to take off my shoes before I feel them jump on me. 

“Where have you been, big brother?” Ran asks. As soon as I take my shoes off. They get off me as I turn to them. “I spent the night at Haru's. The party ended later than we thought.” I said smiling up at them before i get up myself. My brother and sister start running back into the kitchen where my mother and father are. 

“Makoto. Welcome back” she says, turning to me. She still has her apron on from cooking breakfast for the kids. “Would you like something for breakfast too?” she asks me. I shake my head. “That's okay mom. I ate at Haru's” I say before making my way to the stairs. “Do you have any plans today?” she asks me. I turn back towards her. “I don't think so.” I say before walking up the stairs and to my bedroom. I take a quick shower and put on different clothes. 

I decide to take a walk down to the beach since it's close by. It's really nice out and even by the sidewalk I can still feel the waves pick up and the smell of the water.  
I see kids running around and playing. Swimming in the water. I can hear their laughter all the way from here.  
While i'm walking, I see Sousuke sitting down by the water on the dock. His feet are dangling from the edge but not close enough to dip into the water. 

He's watching the waves. This sad look on his face and I know it's because he'll never be able to swim again. 

I don't even think before I feel myself walking toward him and I sit down next to him, only an inch or 2 between us. Thats when he looks up at me and smiles. 

“Never thought I was gonna see you again” he says. And thats when I remember the text he had sent me last night (or should I say this morning) without replying back. I don't try and make an excuse for why I didn't reply back because the truth scares me enough. I couldn't stop thinking about him on my way back after the party. All I was hoping was that I would see him again.

I look back at the water and I can feel him staring at me. And I hear something I never thought i would say. “Kiss me” it was barely a whisper. At that time a huge wave came our way. Wetting our shoes. I look back over to him and I see him smiling, I knew that he had heard me. 

In the next instant, he leans in and I feel his soft lips on mine. It feels the same as last night. Maybe even better. I feel the sun shining on us and I pull back wincing. Even though our eyes were closed. I could still feel the sun blaring through our eyelids. I see Sousuke laughing and he's also squinting just to see me through the sun.

I watch him as he stands up and he lends me a hand to help me up. We walk back the way we had come. I don't know where he's going but I follow him either way.

After a few minutes, we're away from the beach.  
The only people around are us.  
Sousuke stops walking and he turns toward me. He leans against the fence that's right behind him and he smirks at me. “What is it that you told me to do back there?” he asks me. His smirk grows bigger. He knows that I had a hard time saying it the first time and he's teasing me. I look away. “you know what? Just forget it.” I practically pout. I hear him laugh in front of me and i turn my head. “Never seen you pout before. It's pretty cute.” he says. He moves away from the fence and he starts walking toward me. I stay where I stand, not moving as his eyes scan mine. I feel his hand grazing my arm as he lightly pushes me against the wall. 

I thought I was going to feel him kiss me once more but not before he leans in and puts his mouth right next to my ear. His breathing and his soft voice making shivers run up my spine. “But more than that. Your sexy.” my eyes widen when I hear him say that but I don't say anything back. I feel him kiss my neck and it startles me, making me close my eyes, feeling the sensation. From there his lips meet mine and their more powerful than last night, more powerful than a few minutes ago by the water. It's like he's drinking me in and he can't get enough. It's more intense that my one hand moves to the nape of his neck and I grab his hair, my other hand steadies myself on his arm lightly even though theres a wall that will keep me from falling.

I feel his tongue making his way into my mouth and I allow it. Feeling his body get closer to me until our bodies touch. I don't remember how long we have been like that for. To me it feels like hours when I know it's only been minutes. I just wanna keep kissing him. Wanna keep touching him. Was that too much? Am I already in too deep after one night that I can't get myself out?

He pulls away, without leaving much space between our bodies as we catch our breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We sat down on the sand, in a secluded area away from everyone else, close by to the water again where we could feel the air from the waves on our skin. We had taken off our shoes and everytime the waves get bigger, they wash over until our feet are under water for a few seconds. 

I look over to him and he looks deep in thought again just like he did when I first saw him by the dock. “What are you thinking about?” I ask him in a soft voice. He looks over at me. His blue eyes staring into mine. “You really wanna know?” he asks me. His eyes never leaving mine for a second. I nod. 

“I wanted to go to the Olympics. Thats all I thought about for a long time and I was keeping up that promise to myself. That was until I got injured.” all I could do was nod again. I knew this much. He had told me last night. But I still keep quiet and listen to him speak. He turns away to look back at the water. Our hair swaying in the wind. “I accepted that I won't be able to swim competitively anymore. That's why I did what I did and swam in that relay. But...” he pauses for a few seconds before he starts up again. “I got some pretty good advice from someone that never gives up even when he feels like theirs no other option.” he doesn't tell me which friend of his gave him that advice but I know for a fact that it's definitely Rin. “He told me to not crush my own potential before I even try.” 

With the way his eyes are gleaming like that, I can tell that he has been picturing that scene in his head all day. The conversation that he had with Rin. 

I don't take my eyes off him even though hes not looking back. “So your thinking about finding someway to heal your shoulder?” I ask him and thats when he looks up at me and smiles. “I am... I'm not getting my hopes up but i'm not gonna rule it out either. I'm gonna see to it until I don't have any more options left.” I take his hand without thinking and he looks down at our hands before he moves them. Entwining his fingers with mine. He looks up into my eyes as he squeezes my hand and my heart leaps for a few seconds. 

I'm gonna be there for him. Whatever he needs to be able to start swimming again, I will be there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had spent most of the day together.  
We left once the evening rolled around. He never told me where he was living now. I know that Rin moved back home once they graduated. He will be going back to Australia once summer is over and so far Sousuke didn't have any plans. All he said was he'll act on them once he knows for sure what he wants to do. It was a subject he didn't want to talk about. 

He always knew what he wanted to do from the beginning so having to start from scratch and pick something else that he would much rather do kinda scared him.

I told him that if he would let me, than I would stand by him if it was doing something else or getting opinions to see if his shoulder can heal and than be able to swim again. He didn't hesitate for a second before he said that he would love that. 

We went our separate ways in the evening.  
He had promised me that he would call or text me later tonight. 

I walk through the front door and I take off my shoes by the door. My brother and sister were watching television when I walked in and my parents were washing the dishes from dinner they finished not too long ago.

My parents don't ask me anymore if i'm gonna be home for dinner. I know the time so I should be here at said time if i'm gonna join them. 

“For the summer, we were planning on going away for vacation before the kids go back to school.” my mother told me while I was standing there. 

They had told me this before I graduated, it was only a thought they had for a while. I already told them that I was going to stay behind. I wanted to spent time with my friends before we parted ways. My parents were okay with that. They were upset when I told them because they wouldn't get much time with me maybe a few days at least when they get back, maybe even less depending on when i would be leaving for Tokyo. 

I hung out with my brother and sister after that. We stayed in the living room and watched TV and they told me about their trip they were gonna go on. They didn't know for sure. Mom and Dad had said that they could plan where they wanted to go this year. 

Before I knew it, it was time for my parents to bring them to bed and not long after that, Sousuke called. 

I went outside and sat on the front steps before answering the phone. 

“Hey” he says in a raspy voice, it sends chills down my spine just hearing his voice. 

“Hey” I answer back.

That was all it took before it went silent. I don't know how long it was until I broke the silence. “What's on your mind?” I ask. He didn't need to call if he didn't wanna say anything. But the next words that came out on the other line made my heart beat faster. “I can't stop thinking about you.” I smile and I swear it's like i can feel his smile from the other line once I reply back. “I can never stop thinking about you.” 

The summer went by faster than i could have hoped for. If it was up to me, I hoped that the summer would never end. 

Me and Sousuke spent every waking moment together, and when we weren't together, we were talking on the phone or texting. 

My parents and little brother and sister decided to go all over Japan instead of to another country. They would call once a week to see how I was. I was mostly with Haru since his parents weren't home with him either. But there were some times where Sousuke would spend the night.

This one time was a more spontaneous way of spending the night. It was one of those times were we didn't want to keep our hands off each other. You could definitely say that I had fallen in love with him.

I had let him into my house once he arrived and I closed the door behind me. At that moment, Sousuke pushed me against the door lightly and his lips connected with mine. I could hear both of us breathing as I closed my eyes, getting caught up in the way his lips felt against mine. How they always do. My left hand was wrapped around the nape of his neck and my right hand found it's way traveling up and down his toned chest until i felt his heart beating through his chest. It was beating so fast and I know that mine was too. But I didn't want him to stop. So I gripped hold of his neck a little tighter so that i could push him more towards me until our chests were right against each other.

After a while Sousuke pulls away first and we both catch our breath. 

“Where's your bedroom?” he asks me in a husky whisper. I don't answer him, I just take his hand, entwining it with mine as I lead him up the stars. I'm nervous, there's no mistaking that when I'm this quiet, but I shake it off knowing that I want to do this. I probably wanted to for a long time. 

I lead him down the hall and into my bedroom, without looking back at him. I drop his hand once we're inside as I close the bedroom door slowly. Not taking my eyes off him. I see him looking around, the pictures on my wall, pictures on my desk. He went closer to the one on my wall. It was a picture that time we won the relay when we were younger. Me, Haru, Nagisa and Rin. It was a look of longing and acceptance, a slight smile on his face. He had told me that he felt the way that we did once we were done with our relay. The way your supposed to feel. I'm glad he could feel that. It's one of the best feelings in the world. I'm sad to say that I'm actually going to miss that.

He turns back to me after a minute. I didn't realize that I haven't moved from the spot by the door since we came in. “Are you nervous?” he asks me in a soft tone. I nod my head once, never once taking my eyes off his. He walks closer to me and I step back, feeling my back hitting the door. “we don't have to do this if you don't want to.” he says but once again I just shake my head. “no, I want to. You have no idea how much I want to.” I say to him and he just smiles at me. 

I move onto him first this time. My lips meeting his. His eyes widen for a second before coming down onto me. His lips moving onto mine like we were both giving each other air to breath. I felt his tongue looking for an entrance and I gave it to him. I felt his hands moving down my sides, feeling me until his hands stopped by the hem of my shirt. Pulling it up slowly every few inches. My breath hitches once i feel his bare hands ever so gently on my bare skin. He pulls it up higher until off my body, discarding onto the floor. 

He stands back and looks at me with a smirk. It makes my cheeks so bright red, realizing that he's staring at me. Watching me. Waiting for me to make the next move. I walk over to him and in one swift movement, i take the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head, my lips meeting his a second later.

Heated. Not being able to take it anymore. I want him. I need him in every way that i can have him. 

He pushes away lightly and I groan quietly but he could still hear and he starts to laugh. He comes up to my ear and whispers. “patience.” before i feel him kissing my neck. I moan quietly, breathing getting quicker once I feel him kissing all the way down my stomach slowly. The anticipation growing.

Teasing me. Once he got to the top of my jeans, he kissed just there. Unbuttoning them slowly before standing back up before me. I'm already out of breath just thinking of what he would do to me. 

The look in his eyes when he stares at me. It's a look that I never want to go away. He kisses me lightly one last time before I feel myself being pushed down onto the bed. I scoot farther until I'm at the top. My head landing on my pillow. Sousuke hovers on top of me a second later. I can feel his breath. He's hesitating. He's looking into my eyes as if asking without words if I still want to do this. I grab him lightly at the nape of his neck and I pull him down, crashing our lips together.

The whole night was a blurr, filled with passion and love, and the unending pleasure that we both shared. It felt like it had gone all night and for the most part, I never wanted it to end. 

The next morning. I woke up to the sun. To the sound of the birds chirping.  
I open my eyes to see Sousuke still sleeping soundly next to me and it puts a small smile to my face knowing he's still here. 

I don't know how long I was staring at him before he slowly started opening his eyes. Sometime during the night, the sheets had fallen down to his hips and I can see his bare chest. I check him out once before my eyes returning to his face, only to see a smirk plastered there. “you any sore from last night?” he asks me. The smirk not letting off for a second. My eyes go wide and i can feel redness flooding my cheeks. He couldn't help but laugh. 

“Seriously though, are you alright?” he asks a moment later, as a concerned boyfriend who had realized that i was a virgin until last night. “it is sore.” i say. “but it's a good reminder.” I than finished off. “What time is it?” he than asks. I turn my head to the clock on my side. “8:30” I say and he just nods.  
He relaxes more and sinks his head more into the pillows. “I don't feel like getting up yet.” he says to me and I laugh, sinking in closer to him, underneath the arm that he lifted up so that I can sink into his chest. 

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” he says to me after a few minutes of silence. Whatever it was, I could feel him tensing just the slightest bit. I lift my head up a bit so that I can look into his eyes and even though he's looking straight at the ceiling, for the slightest moment, I see him looking at me from the corner of his eye. He moves his arm out from under me so that it's back to his side and I lay back down but i never take my eyes off him, waiting for him to continue. 

He takes a deep breath. “I decided to go in search for a treatment for my shoulder. So that I can swim again.” he says. I stay quiet. “I don't know if anything is going to work but I at least want to try.” he says. He closes his eyes for a minute before he opens them again. Him turning my way to see what i was thinking through this whole thing. My mouth is open slightly and I had no words but in my head I thought it was great, he loves swimming. I want him to be able to get that back. But that's not what comes out of my mouth. 

“When were you thinking of leaving?” I ask him. “I wanted to spend as much time as I possibly could with you before I left. I was thinking at the end of summer.” he says. My mind was in somersaults. I knew he was thinking about it, I supported him through everything, I was even planning on going with him if that's what he wanted. Summer was in the mist of ending. I was getting ready to leave for Tokyo for school. “I want you to come with me.” he says to me once he realizes I wasn't going to say anything.

My mind drifts back to him and my eyes go wide. It's what I wanted to hear him say. My thoughts and my mouth are saying 2 completely different things, I don't know which one to listen to. “I have school” I say to him in a whisper, when I look back at him I see his face falling even more if that was even possible from where he started out. “ I know.” he says. I feel the bed dipping and without looking, i know that he's getting out of bed. I look up and i see his bare back as he walks to the middle of the room to retrieve his boxers and his clothes that we discarded all around my room last night.

I sit up. The sheets laying on my hips. He doesn't say any words as he gets dressed. All I see is his back. And I want to hit myself for my saying anything. Why won't anything come out?! 

“I want to go with you!” I blurt out. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Like I was eager. Like it was forced. Like I was forcing myself to say something. He turns around. His eyes a little wide from my little outburst. He sits down on the edge of the bed, looking at me as I crawl to him. I give him a light kiss on the lips before we both pull away. He gently strokes my cheek with a small smile on his face that doesn't reach his eyes. “You know the invitation is still there. I know you have school so I'm not keeping my hopes up. Just think about what you want more. What you need more. And you know where to find me.”

He kisses me again, but this time on my forehead before he gets up and walks out the door. 

My room feels more lonely now than it ever did before. 

What I need more? I hadn't realized it until I felt my tears dripping down onto my sheets.

I love him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We haven't spoken for the next couple days. No texting or calls.  
It was the first time I had hung out with Haru in a long time. I know that he had missed hanging out with me and I had apologized for not being with him more. But while I wasn't with him, he was with Rin all the time so my guilt had gone down. 

We had gotten permission to use the school's pool during summer break so that's where we are right now. I'm sitting down at the edge of the pool. My feet dipped in, watching Haru swimming laps, never once taking a break. I'm glad he had realized that he wanted to be a competitive swimmer. I could see that potential everytime i looked at him. 

I hadn't realized that Haru had gotten out of the pool and was sitting down next to me. I had been in deep thought this whole time, I never heard him until he put his hand on my shoulder, shaking me out of my own thoughts, I turned to him. “what?” i ask him confused. Embarrassed that i hadn't heard what he had said to me. 

He takes his hand off my shoulder and he frowns. “What's the matter?” he asks me. “you've been deep in thought since we arrived.” he looks down. “I know when somethings bothering you.” he's right. We're best friends. We know everything about each other. From when we're happy to when we're sad. Scared. We've been through it all. 

“Sousuke has decided to try other means in healing his shoulder so that he can be able to swim again.” I say, looking Haru in the eye. He just sits there, watching me as i continue to talk. “I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It's great.” I break eye contact as I look down, seeing my reflection in the pool water. “He asked me to go with him but he's not expecting me to. He knows how much I want to be a coach, and how much going to this university means to me.” I take a deep breath. I hadn't realized that my voice was shaking until i was out of breath. I look back at Haru. “He gave me a choice. To leave with him or go to school.” 

After a few seconds of silence, Haru starts speaking. “He gave you a choice but i don't think either will be the wrong one.” I turn to look at him, confused by what he's saying. “He loves you... he wants you by his side but at the same time he wants to keep you with the future that you want. He would still be there. You would talk on the phone or maybe even video chat. He gave you that choice because, like it or not, it's only your choice to make. But i know that whatever you choose, he will be fine with it. Even though he hasn't said it yet, I know it's true too.” he says. 

I don't take my eyes off him. He might actually be right. I don't remember the last time he ever gave me advice, if ever. But I know that i'm the only one that can choose. It scares me, but i have to follow my heart not knowing how everything is going to turn out in the end.  
Haru jumps back in the water, continuing doing laps as if he never stopped. I smile. i take off my shirt before jumping in after him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'm sitting outside on my front steps. I have my phone in my hand as i touch Sousuke's name. I put the phone to my ear and it rings three times before he answers. “Makoto?” it's the first thing i hear when he answers the phone. It sounded like he was surprised to be hearing from me. “I know I took a little while to come up with an answer” I say to him. “I thought about it like you told me to.” He pauses before he whispers. “I'm glad.” I don't know if he intended for me to hear it but I did. “I want to come with you.” I say to him. “I thought about it for a long time and all my thoughts always came back to you.” he still doesn't speak. “Let me do this with you. I can take a year off and I can go back next year. Your important to me and I can't let you do this alone. I won't” i hear him smile through the other end. 

It's quiet before I hear him speak again. “I'm scared.” he says in a low voice. I can hear the soft wind blowing and I know that he's outside too. “I don't know how this is going to turn out. My only thought now is that I need to try or else I will ever know.” I hate hearing him as if he is already defeated. “Listen to me.” I say to him in a soft tone. “your a fighter. I saw it that day you were swimming the relay. Your strong. We don't know what's going to happen but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Together. I'm not going to leave you.”

We were silent for a while after that. Only our breathing breaking the silence. “The stars are beautiful tonight” i hear him say. I lift my head up, looking up at the stars and I'm enchanted. “Their always beautiful” i find myself saying. It's the truth but I'm also talking about Sousuke. Though he doesn't know that. Sousuke sounds deep in thought when he answers back. “Yea.” 

It was silent the rest of the time we were on the phone. I felt refreshed and felt like I could breath once we both said “Goodnight”. 

I rest my elbows on my knees as I look to the ground and close my eyes. I will walk to the ends of the earth if you need me to Sousuke. That part is for certain. I cradle my one hand with the other. Not realizing that I had been shaking until I took them. I'm scared too, but how come i can't tell you that? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, I woke up and did my normal routine. I made my bed and made breakfast. My mother ended up calling me shortly after that. Just checking in and seeing if i had started my packing yet for Tokyo. I was going to end up telling her sooner or later. I was delaying it because I didn't know how they would react. They didn't know I started dating Sousuke. It was one of the things I never got around to telling them before they left on their trip. This had to be the time to tell them because i wasn't going to see them when they got back.

They took it surprisingly well. They were disappointed that I had taken off a year to travel with Sousuke but I'm old enough to choose how i want my future to turn out and I'm hoping that he stays apart of that. My future will still be here when I get back, but right now I want to make sure that Sousuke gets the future that he wants and deserves. 

I could hear my mother smiling through the phone, and she said I was a great boyfriend and that he deserves someone like me. That made me smile. Before we got off the phone, they all said how much they missed me and to have fun.

After the call I went upstairs to my room. I took out my duffel bag and started packing. My clothes and everything that I will be needing. Packing everything seeing as I don't know how long we will be gone. 

We will be leaving in only a few days. He already got the plane tickets. In those last few days we hung out with our friends. At their houses, at the pool, at the beach. It was like a going away party and 'Good Luck Sousuke' party all in one week. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We already went through security, our bags already on the plane. Now we were just waiting until they called for our flight. We were both quiet once we heard voices calling our our names. My eyes go wide as i know those voices and I turn my head and I see all our friends. 

They start running to us. Seeing relief in their faces. “Glad we caught you before you left.” Rin is the first to speak up. “We all wanted to see you off” Haru says. And it makes us smile. We had said our goodbyes the day before, not expecting to see them again by this time. 

It wasn't much time after that when our flight got called. We all said Goodbye and we all gave each other hugs. Not realizing how sad everyone became, not realizing how sad I had felt when we left them behind. 

We went to our plane and we found our seats. Putting our carry-ons in the compartment above us. We get into our seats and we put on our seat belts, I'm sitting in the window seat and Sousuke is sitting beside me. He entwines his fingers with mine and i let out a breath. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It has been an hour maybe 2 when Makoto fell asleep on Sousuke's shoulder. Sousuke was looking down at his sleeping face and thought how peaceful he looked. He leaned down and kissed him on the top of his head. “I love you” he whispers right after. It was low that none of the other passengers could hear him but loud enough so Makoto could if he was awake. 

Meanwhile, Makoto was dreaming about blue eyes and an intense stare that he never gets tired of. Lips that he could kiss for hours. And a body that he can never get tired of looking at. With or without clothes on. “I love you” Is the only thing that can be heard in his dream, and in reality he had also said that out loud. Loud enough for Sousuke to hear as well. 

Sousuke knew from his dazed tone and the way he said it like it was the first time, that he was talking in his sleep. The reality of it was that this wasn't the first time Makoto had talked in his sleep. And it wasn't the first time he had said he loved him either. 

When Makoto awakes. He doesn't remember saying it at all.


End file.
